TechBirmingham does a great job promoting the entire region as a nationally recognized technology hub (the City of Hoover is proud to be a member). They host a variety of events all over the Birmingham metro area, and for two years now they’ve held their annual CyberNOW technology security conference right here at the Hyatt Regency/Wynfrey.
This weeks’ CyberNOW was a two day Information Security conference with around 500 attendees, several lobbies full of vendor space, training, talks from local experts, and keynotes by nationally known speakers. What I like about it is that it tends to go beyond the typical industry presentations that we’re all used to.
Would you like to hear how Honda has beefed up network security efforts to avoid disruption of a production line that produces a car every 48 seconds? Or how about innovative ways to both find the Infosec talent you need while simultaneously fostering diversity in the workplace? (hint: the talent is out there, our hiring process doesn’t effectively find security talent)
Or how about how a company in our home city of Hoover uses cutting edge cyber-intelligence techniques to fight human trafficking? Daniel Clemens gave a moving talk about how ShadowDragon works with former special ops agents via a non-profit called DeliverFund to “disrupt networks and cuff bad guys” while helping rescue the innocent victims.
Technology can’t give us hope for humanity, but the people who use it effectively can certainly deliver a message of hope. And that’s what we saw yesterday. CyberNOW has become a really cool event.
Thanks to TechBirmingham for being a vehicle for great things! (And of course, thanks for hosting it here in Hoover!)